The Visit

You came to visit again last night

You were as real as real could be

I know I watched you fall in the fight

You were only a few feet from Bobby and me

I saw you fall; I know I did

You never got up again

Bobby and I jumped in the hole and hid

Knowing we left a good friend

I see that you never aged

The battle was forty years past

Bobby is gone – he died in his sleep

And I’m just a shell of a man

My hair is gray and thin

I walk with the aid of a stick

I still miss you my friend

Even though I’m old and sick

During your visit you said

That in spirit you never left

Only your body was gone

That your memory would survive time’s test

It’s true, I think of you often

I wish you were with us again

There is nothing worldly to soften

The anguish in the loss of a friend

©5/4/08Terry Sutherland

Awarded 5/4/2008

Awarded 5/4/2008